Summary
of Main Events
ARRIVING
CARRIER SQUADRONS:
HMS HERMES:
No.809 - 4 Sea Harriers for No.800 NAS 1(F) Sqdn RAF - 6 Harrier GR.3's [Wing Cmdr P T Squire (awarded
DFC)
AFC RAF]
HMS INVINCIBLE No.809 - 4 Sea Harriers for No.801 NAS
1.
SEA
KING TO CHILE INCIDENT (17th-18th) ?
Invincible and Brilliant approached Argentine
coast
and special forces landed near air bases
by No.846 Sea King
(17th). By morning, ships back with
CVBG. That evening, Sea King
[b9] destroyed
near Punta Arenas and crew later
picked up by Chile (18th) 2. British aircraft
lost east of Falklands -
[b8] Sea
King (17th) 3. British aircraft
lost north east of Falklands - [b10] Sea King (19th)
4. APPROACH
TO SAN CARLOS BY 3 COMMANDO BRIGADE (20th)
- Assault
ships Fearless, Intrepid; Transports
Canberra, Europic Ferry, Norland; RFA's
Fort Austin, Stromness; LSL's Sir
Galahad, Sir Geraint, Sir Lancelot, Sir
Percivale, Sir Tristram; Fr Brilliant,
Broadsword, Argonaut, Plymouth, Yarmouth;
DD Antrim, FR Ardent 5. CARRIER
BATTLE GROUP (20th) - CV Hermes,
Invincible; DD Glamorgan, Coventry,
Glasgow; FR Alacrity, Arrow; RFA Olmeda,
Regent, Resource, Tidepool; Transports
Atlantic Conveyor, Elk
Plus submarine
force, hospital ships in RCB, repair ship and
tug in TRALA, and some tankers
in TEZ
One of the strangest
incidents of the war now took place involving Chile.
The only certainty was that during the week the Chilean
authorities found a burnt out Sea King HC.4 of No.846 NAS
near the southern town of Punta Arenas, the crew of three gave themselves up and
were returned to the UK to later receive gallantry awards
for a number of hazardous missions. Presumably, and as
announced by the Ministry of Defence, these included
losing their way, ending up 500 miles from the Task Force
and destroying their helicopter!! One possibility was
that after a high speed dash to the west over Monday night (17th)
by
"Invincible" and escort "Brilliant",
the Sea King landed special forces near air bases in Southern
Argentina either to
report on aircraft as they left to attack the Task Force
or even in an attempt to destroy the Super Etendards (subsequently
confirmed in the 1990's).
Whatever happened, the carrier obviously
could not risk waiting for the helicopter to return and
by Tuesday
morning (18th) was
back with the CVBG. The Sea King therefore made its way
to neutral territory to be destroyed by the crew sometime
over Tuesday
night [b9]. Any men landed might then have
been picked up later by submarine. As it happened, the
diesel-engined and more manoeuvrable "Onyx"
arrived in the Falkland's area by the end of the month
and was reported to have lifted off special forces from
near Rio Grande, and in doing so to have damaged herself
on an uncharted rock. She also went on to land SBS teams
around the Falklands to supplement the helicopter drops.
Back on Monday 17th as the amphibious ships neared the
carrier group, the second No.826 Sea King from
"Hermes" was lost by accident. Late that night
to the
east of the Falklands while on ASW patrol she hit the sea with altimeter
trouble and had to be abandoned, but again fortunately
with no casualties [b8].
Next day when within range, and through into Wednesday, "Atlantic Conveyor"
flew off four of the embarked No.809 Sea Harriers to
"Invincible" and the remaining four with the
six RAF GR.3's to "Hermes". The 25 Sea Harriers
would now concentrate on air defence and the RAF GR.3's
on ground attack, but with a total of 31 now embarked,
the carrier maintenance teams were sorely stretched and
yet still provided a remarkably high level of
availability.When
the many ships did meet some 200 miles to the north east of
Stanley, equipment and
stores, men and helicopters were re-distributed ready for
the landings. Eleven assault Sea Kings of No.846 NAS were
moved around to four of the ships that entered San Carlos
Water, and on Wednesday evening a twelfth was lost with particularly tragic
consequences. Before then, orders were received from
Northwood to spread "Canberra's" major units
around the other ships to avoid heavy loss of life in the
event of her being hit. Through Wednesday 19th and in surprisingly calm weather
for the South Atlantic in autumn, the larger landing
craft (LCU's) carried by the assault ships transferred 40 Cdo RM to "Fearless", and Z Coy 45 Cdo and 3 Para to "Intrepid". The whole of 42 Cdo stayed on "Canberra",
the rest
of 45 Cdo on RFA
"Stromness" and 2 Para on "Norland". The opportunity was
also taken to transfer the special forces and three
surviving night-flying No.846 Sea Kings from
"Hermes" after their three week's covert
operations. In one of the last flights that Wednesday from the carrier to
"Intrepid", one of the Sea Kings loaded with
SAS crashed into the sea and 21 out of the 30 men on
board died [b10]. At
the time a sea bird strike was thought to have brought
her down, but this cause is now open to doubt. The dead
included 18 men of D and G Sqdn SAS, some of them so soon
after their Pebble Island triumph, one member of the
Royal Signals, the only RAF casualty of the war and the
aircrewman, Corporal M D Love RM who was awarded a posthumous DSM for his special forces missions.
Carrying Brigadier
Thompson's troops, but commanded by Commodore Clapp, the Amphibious Task Group
now headed for Falkland Sound. Leaving "Atlantic
Conveyor" and "Elk" with the CVBG, it
consisted of command ship "Fearless",
"Intrepid", the five LSL's, merchantmen
"Canberra", "Europic Ferry" and
"Norland", RFA "Stromness" as a
troopship and from the carrier group, "Fort
Austin" for helicopter support. Apart from the
original escort of "Antrim",
"Ardent", "Argonaut" and
"Plymouth", Admiral Woodward allocated
"Yarmouth" and weakened his own defences by
also sending "Brilliant" and
"Broadsword". Faced with sailing across the north of the
Falklands through the
daylight hours of Thursday 20th, the type 22's Sea Wolf
could have proved crucial in fighting off any determined
aircraft attacks on the troopships. As it happened, the
convoy was hidden all day by poor weather and reached the
jumping off point for San Carlos Water without apparently being spotted.
Later that Thursday,
"Antrim" and "Ardent" went ahead on
separate support missions and 3 Commmando Brigade
prepared to land early next morning, starting with the
first assault wave of 40 Cdo and 2 Para who
went ashore at San Carlos.
So much took
place in and around San Carlos Water
over the next few days, Parts 33, 34 and 35 are needed to
describe the main events:
Part 33: 21st
May - San Carlos Landings
Part 34: 21st
May - Air Battles around San Carlos
Part 35:
22nd-23rd May - Falkland Area Operations
But before
then, Argentine and British aircraft and shipping losses
inflicted and losses sustained are summarised as an
introduction to the land, sea and air battles that took
place until the end of the war:
Part 31:
Argentine Aircraft and their Successes against
British Ships
Part 32:
British Successes against Argentine Aircraft and
Ships
British
Gallantry Awards included:
No.846
Sea King to Chile Lt A R C
Bennett (DSC) RN Lt R Hutchings (DSC) RM Ldg Aircrewman P B Imrie (DSM)
Captain
G R Green RFA,
commanding officer RFA Sir Tristram,
one of the LSL's sailing into San Carlos
Water over the night of 20th May 1982
(Courtesy - RFA Service)
|